1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of integrated circuit (IC) design, and more particularly, to a device for interfacing an IC chip with a printed circuit board (PCB) designed for another IC chip, where the two IC chips have different structural configurations and/or electrical operating characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuit (IC) design engineers are constantly designing and improving the performance and efficiency of integrated circuit (IC) chips. As these engineers design new high performance IC chips having a smaller surface area than their original counterparts, printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers are compelled to redesign their existing PCBs to modify the structural and/or electrical interfaces built thereon in order to interface the PCBs with the new high performance IC chips. Accordingly, PCB manufacturers are faced with redesign costs every several months or years when a new IC chip is fabricated to replace an older IC chip.
The PCB redesign procedure generally includes redesigning the PCB to interface with the structural configurations and/or electrical operating characteristics of the new IC chip. Additionally, the PCB is typically modified to xe2x80x9cfitxe2x80x9d the new IC device, since the new IC device generally has a different shape and/or a smaller surface area than the original IC chip.
In an effort to keep PCB redesign costs at a minimum, adapter systems have been implemented to match the structural configurations of the new IC chip with the structural configurations of the PCB. These systems typically suffer from a common drawback in that they only match the structural configurations of the new IC chip with the PCB. If the electrical operating characteristics of the new IC chip are different than the IC chip being replaced, then these adapter systems are ineffective in interfacing the new IC chip with the PCB.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a device for matching dissimilar structural configurations and/or electrical operating characteristics of a new IC chip with a PCB designed for another IC device. Such a device can incorporate a new IC chip to a PCB designed for another IC chip, without requiring a redesign of the PCB.
It is an object of this disclosure to provide a device for interfacing an integrated circuit (IC) chip with a printed circuit board (PCB), i.e., an IC chip replacement device, which provides both a structural and electrical interface between an IC chip and a PCB designed for use with another IC chip (xe2x80x9coriginal IC chipxe2x80x9d), where the IC chip and the original IC chip have different structural configurations and/or electrical operating characteristics.
The IC chip replacement device of the present invention is capable of replacing an older IC chip mounted on a PCB with a new IC chip by interfacing the structural and electrical interfaces of the PCB with the new IC chip. For example, in one aspect of the present disclosure, the IC chip replacement device of the present invention is configured for replacing an older IC chip having a specific operating voltage and mounted on a PCB with a new IC chip having different a operating voltage.
Accordingly, the structural and electrical interfaces provided by the IC chip replacement device advantageously precludes the need to redesign the PCB to accommodate the new IC chip.